Borderlands 2: The Movie
by leady129
Summary: After being thrown together by a series of incidents, five new vault hunters must race against time to stop the Hyperion leader, Handsome Jack from opening a brand new vault and unleashing its contents upon Pandora.


I'm back. After having a lot of fun attempting to adapt the first Borderlands game into a condensed, cinematic story I've decided to attempt giving the second game the same treatment. Unlike the first however, this project is absolutely terrifying for me for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I will be following on from the continuity I created from my first story Borderlands: the Movie. Given that the second game seemed to go out of its way at times to prove a good number of my original ideas null and void, this means there will be a good number of inconsistencies as I attempt to mash the two universes together. Oh and this also means that I have made the decision, after many sleepless nights, to carry over the script format style. While it wasn't a big problem in the last story I know there were a handful of people who weren't a fan of this format, but I feel it works for what I'm trying to achieve.

Secondly, while the first game gave me heaps of freedom and breathing room, the second actually has a pretty tight story that I suspect will make this task a right pain on a number of occasions, especially where the original four vault hunters are concerned.

Anyway, this opening chapter doesn't have to worry too much about the second and is mainly devoted to addressing the first so before I ramble on for far too long. I really hope you enjoy this second attempt at capturing the fun and downright silliness of Gearbox's brilliant Universe.

* * *

**BORDERLANDS 2**

01. EXT. ERIDIAN PROMONTORY, MOUNTAIN RANGE – SUNSET

_The film opens with a wide shot of a majestic, snow peaked mountain range standing proudly against a bright blue sky. One peak in particular sits higher than the rest, reaching up towards the fluffy white clouds above it._

_While sections of the mountain are quite textured with ledges and large rocks jutting out at various angles, there are various points where the mountain provides a smooth polished slope running all the way to its base where a large ravine has been cut into the earth._

_Above this slope are the remains of what used to be a reasonably large plateau. Where the ground was once flat however, now piles of snow litter the ground, giving it an uneven surface. Poking out through the snow are the remains of an arch, crumbling as it threatens to collapse at any moment._

_The sun sits quite low in the sky casting most of the mountain in a deep shadow. Only the peak, really receives any direct sunlight._

_A small flock of birds float down on unseen air currents as the camera hovers around this mountain. It's a rather serene scene. Something right out of a painting._

_The serenity doesn't last long however as a small carrier ship appears, approaching the mountain. Mostly rectangular in shape, apart from the nose, which comes down to a triangular point, the ship features four propulsion jets, two either side which are constantly rotating vertically to keep the ship in the air and moving forwards. The Hyperion logo is emblazoned on the side._

_As the ship moves towards the mountain another, much smaller version, joins it._

02. EXT. ERIDIAN PROMONTORY, VAULT ENTRANCE – SUNSET

_A large man dressed in a light brown uniform, cropped blonde hair and piercing green eyes stands watch as at least a dozen men, a mixture of scientists and excavators explore the snow that covers the surface of the plateau._

_A good deal of them are going at it the old fashioned way with steel shovels although a few handle what appear to be metal detectors, occasionally digging through the ice with their gloved hands when a small green light flashes near the top of the devices handle._

_On the far side of the plateau stands a Gun Loader. This man sized machine stomps over the snow with its thick legs while its upper body twists at the waist, allowing it to train the machine gun built into its arm on anything that moves._

_As the carrier ship approaches the plateau, the Hyperion soldier turns towards his visitors._

_Floating above the plateau, the jets attached to the side of the ship melt away the snow of the surface allowing the ship to descend onto the smooth rock underneath._

_Even before it has touched the ground the back of the ship slides open revealing close to a dozen new Hyperion marked soldiers led by a commander who looks like he's nearing retirement. There's not much colour left in his short cropped hair although he is still in very good shape, the muscles in his arms creating noticeable bulges through his snug fitting uniform._

_The soldiers in the ship start to stand in preparation for the landing however the commander simply jumps out of the back of the ship, hitting the surface of the plateau and jogging forwards a few paces to reach the soldier who has been leading the excavation. This excavation leader pulls his arm up in a salute._

EXCAVATION LEADER

Sir.

_The commander barely raises an arm to indicate to the Excavation leader to drop his._

HYPERION COMMANDER

You informed us that you had found it?

EXCAVATION LEADER

Your timing couldn't be more perfect.

_The excavation leader turns away beckoning the Commander to follow._

03. EXT. ERIDIAN PROMONTORY, VAULT ENTRANCE – SUNSET

_An excavator rubs a thin layer of snow off of the top of a fallen dais. Underneath, a maze of angular lines are revealed, carved into the stone surface. Many of them make their way into the centre where what appears to be a round object has been inserted into a hollow._

_The crunch of footsteps causes the excavator to look up and he stands as the Commander and Excavation Leader approach. Looking down at the dais, the Excavation Leader steps forwards._

EXCAVATION LEADER

How are we looking?

EXCAVATOR

I was just about to attempt to remove the key.

EXCAVATION LEADER

Carry on them.

_The excavator nods before kneeling down next to the dais and pulling a small rectangular device out of a small bag, placed on the snow next to him. One side of the grey device is black and this is the face that he places against the object in the centre of the dais._

_The opposite side has a small blue screen that is currently displaying no information and two small buttons, one red, one green. As the Excavator removes his grip on the device it sticks itself to the object._

04. EXT. ERIDIAN PROMONTORY, VAULT ENTRANCE – SUNSET

_On the other side of the plateau, a brown boot, partially covered by dark grey jeans steps lightly onto a thin layer of snow._

05. EXT. ERIDIAN PROMONTORY, VAULT ENTRANCE – SUNSET

_The Excavator pushes the green button on the device and the object in the centre of the dais suddenly lights up a bright blue. A moment later the dais itself lights up as the lines that cover its surface join the object giving out a bright blue light._

06. EXT. ERIDIAN PROMONTORY, VAULT ENTRANCE – SUNSET

_The new stranger onto the plateau reaches up and runs a hand through his light brown hair, combed over to one side. Continuing the movement he adjusts his jacket over his shoulders as he makes his way towards the three men standing around the dais._

07. EXT. ERIDIAN PROMONTORY, VAULT ENTRANCE – SUNSET

_After a moment the lights on the dais slowly fade out leaving the surface once more stone grey coloured. A beat passes. Suddenly with a small pop, the object in the centre seems to push itself out._

_The Excavator reaches forwards and catches the object, pushing the red button on his device, which causes it to detach itself from the object, falling into his free hand._

_Slowly removing the object from the dais, its revealed that the object is roughly cone shaped, however instead of a smooth surface, the section that was inserted into the dais appears to be made up of various smaller pieces, all weaved erratically around one another with various sections poking unevenly out of the bottom of the device._

_As the Excavator finishes pulling the object out of the dais, a hand reaches forwards and snatches it from his grip._

_HANDSOME JACK, holds the vault key close to his long, angular face, inspecting the object from every angle. While his face appears to be normal at first glance, closer inspection reveals that most of it is covered in what appears to be a slightly looser layer of skin._

HANDSOME JACK

One times vault key… check.

_His cheeks rise as he grins at the object in his hands._

_Just to his right one of the scientists jogs over to the group and shouts out to them._

SCIENTIST

Sir?

_Although he's addressing the Excavation Leader, all four men stood around the dais turn to look at him. He looks nervously at Jack before turning his attention back to the Excavation leader._

SCIENTIST

You're going to want to see this.

07. EXT. ERIDIAN PROMONTORY, VAULT ENTRANCE – SUNSET

_Handsome Jack leads the Commander and Excavation leader towards the far side of the plateau following the scientist. As they reach their destination Jack suddenly stops, looking down at the ground in front of him. A look of mixed surprise and amusement cross his face._

HANDSOME JACK

Well, well, well. Long time no see.

_He steps forwards and it is revealed what he is looking at._

_The frozen corpse of the former leader of Atlas, also named Jack lays at his feet. The Atlas logo can be seen on his uniform and his face is contorted in a look of anger. His dark brown hair has been flattened to the top of his head and his hands are clasped together by his waist. He's been rather well preserved._

_Passing the vault key in his hands to the Excavation Leader, Handsome Jack lowers himself down onto his haunches facing his former rival._

HANDSOME JACK

Where have you been these last few years, Jack?.. No wait – let me: Just chilling?

_Jack chuckles at his own joke as he runs his eyes over the corpse in front of him. His eyes stop at Jack's hands and he leans in to get a closer look. Held tightly between both of Jack's hands is a small golden, spherical object. Much like the dais, its surface is covered in thin lines and grooves that seem to dance erratically around the object._

HANDSOME JACK

What have we got here?

_Reaching forwards with his gloved hands he grabs Jack's arms and attempts to pry them apart. At first he is barely able to budge them, a mixture of being frozen together and the death grip that Jack has on the sphere._

_Trying again, Handsome Jack attempts to stick a finger between Jack's hand and the object and pulls, trying to separate the two. Again, this is no good._

HANDSOME JACK

Come on!

_After another few moments of trying he manages to wrap his own hand around the sphere and this time tries to simply yank it out of Jack's grasp. The first two attempts are fruitless however on the third try the sphere suddenly comes loose, throwing Handsome Jack on his back as it flies free of Jack's grasp._

_Quickly pulling himself up, Jack looks around at the people surrounding him._

HANDSOME JACK

He always did have a firm grip on his balls.

_Standing up Jack examines the object closely. Amongst the chaos of the various grooves there is one line that slices the object in half. Trying to pull the object open, Jack finds that the two halves don't appear to separate however after a beat he has an idea._

_Grabbing the top and bottom he twists in opposite directions. The two halves spin with his movements and a soft click can be heard coming from within the sphere. Smiling to himself, Jack tries again to open the device. The two halves separate slightly however after less than a few millimetres it suddenly snaps back together on its own and twists itself shut._

HANDSOME JACK

Oh. Testy.

_Passing it to his left, he gives the object to the Commander._

HANDSOME JACK

Take this back to the station.

_He turns and starts making his way back to his personal ship. As he walks away he calls back._

HANDSOME JACK

And find me some Eridium!

_Walking out of frame, Jack leaves the Commander and Excavation Leader to stare at the objects in their hands._

08. INT. EDEN 5 SCIENCE FAIR, SMALL CLASSROOM – DAY

_An orange hued holograph springs to life in front of a whiteboard. At first the hologram just displays a piece of text._

_"A long long time ago, in a galaxy relatively close."_

_A young boy, unseen by the audience but only aged around eight to ten years old as evidenced by his high pitched, unbroken voice begins to narrate._

TIMMY

My story is about the vault on Pandora.

_The image on the hologram changes to show a hand drawn picture of two large gates built into a rock wall with the upturned V shaped vault symbol drawn across them._

TIMMY

Hundreds of years ago, an alien race built the vault in a place that was really hard to find. This vault could only be opened with a key.

_The hologram changes to a picture of a stick figure holding a giant key above his head._

TIMMY

According to the legends, the vault was filled with lots and lots of treasure and when people came to Pandora, there were a lot of people who went to look for the treasure.

_The stick figure is now sat on a pile of gold._

TIMMY

But no one ever found it, until one day, the key was found by five heroes who came to Pandora.

_The hologram now shows five badly drawn (although a step up from stick figures) people: A dark man in a thick green uniform, a woman with red hair and blue lines running down her arm, a stick figure with the top half of his head coloured in black and a bird sat on his shoulder, a massive man who seems to more closely resemble a badly drawn monster towering over them all and finally a plump, round man with a goatee._

TIMMY

They were chased by Bandits, and soldiers from Atlas and when they went to open the vault, they found out that there was no treasure inside, but instead they had to fight a big monster.

_The slides show the fat man with a goatee firing his gun at what appears to be a large octopus while the other four stick figures lay on the ground with their eyes crossed out._

TIMMY

It was a long and hard fight but eventually the five vault hunters beat the monster and saved Pandora.

_The fat man with a goatee is now stood on the monsters head._

TIMMY

But after the vault was closed again, suddenly a lot of Erri… Eri… Eri-dum, started to grow all over Pandora.

_A picture of green grass and sky with some mountains in the background. The grass is full of purple lumps._

TIMMY

Because of this, Hyperion came to Pandora to collect the Eri-dum and make guns.

_The film cuts away from the hologram to the small audience watching the presentation. It's a mixture of the young, adults and a handful of older students. Sat amongst the mix is a sixteen year old Gaige, her bright red hair pulled tight into two pig-tails._

_Beneath her bright green eyes, freckles dot her white cheeks. She's quite thin and seems uncomfortable in the bright red, patterned uniform she's wearing. A school bag hides her left arm from the audience._

_Gaige is quite clearly bored to tears as she gazes down the front of the classroom, not really looking at anything while Timmy finishes his presentation._

TIMMY

A little bit of time later, people discovered that there wasn't just one vault on Pandora, but lots and lots of vaults, all full of treasure. So now people who want to get rich travel to the planet to try and find these vaults so that they can become famous.

_This last section does catch Gaige's attention and she focus her eyes on Timmy, who is stood down the front of the room holding a small portable tablet in his hands that he's been reading his speech from. The hologram next to him now shows a picture of lots of stick figures jumping on piles of gold._

_A middle aged, female teacher approached Timmy, clapping her hands._

TEACHER

Very well done. And where did you hear that story?

TIMMY

My Uncle Marcus told me.

TEACHER

Well you'll have to thank him for us. That was very interesting.

09. INT. EDEN 5 SCIENCE FAIR, LARGE HALL – DAY

_A Large convention hall is filled with a mix of various futuristic inventions. A large banner across the back wall reads "Eden 5 Youth Science Fair". Divided into numerous isles the hall is filled with students, all garbed in the same red uniform that Gaige was wearing, wandering around dragging their parent from display to display._

_The displays on show vary from quite simplistic demonstrations put together by young kids to more complicated devices and more than a few holographic displays that simply show plans for a future invention that has not yet had a physical version put together, or various algorithms with crude explanations as to their purpose._

_A small student group lead by a young teacher not quite at her thirties wanders through one of the isles, eventually coming to a stop in front of a large yellow crate. From the group Gaige steps forwards and places herself in front of the crate._

_As she steps out, her left arm is revealed for the first time. The bottom half has been replaced with a crude metallic robotic arm that ends in a claw._

_The teacher places herself at the back of the small group as they gather in front of the crate. A fellow student with blonde hair and bright blue eyes places herself right at the front, surround by three other friends. A smirk crosses her face._

TEACHER

Ok Gaige. I'm sure we're all very… … interested in seeing what you've done this year.

GAIGE

Okey dokey

_She spins back towards the crate and takes a step towards it, however she's stopped as the teacher nervously calls after her._

TEACHER

You're… err… not going to cut off the other one, are you.

_She looks down at Gaige's left arm._

_Grinning, Gaige raises her claw next to her head, rotating it once and snapping it closed._

GAIGE

Nah. I have something better.

TEACHER

Oh God.

_Gaige once more starts to step towards the crate, but this is the cue for the blonde haired girl to pipe up._

MARCY

Such a pity. And I was so looking forwards to hearing your screams of agony again.

_Gaige shoots Marcy a dirty look but doesn't respond, instead hitting a small switch on the side of the yellow crate. The front of the crate slides upwards and lays back over its top, revealing a large robot inside._

_Its large body is painted red and below a hexagonal head where a thin sheet of red hued glass covers the various implements, two thick arms protrude out from the shoulders. One ends in a claw similar to the one on Gaige's arm while the other ends in two short rods, extending from where the hand should be. Small bolts of electricity arc between the two rods. Between them is a small cylinder that almost resembles the barrel of a gun._

_Below a thin waist the robot walks on two crudely constructed legs ending in large round pads at their base._

GAIGE

I give you, my protector-bot. I've not really given him a name yet.

MARCY

Excuse me.

Rolling her eye's Gaige turns her head to look at this girl, who has a rather pompous air about her.

MARCY

Am I the only one getting a sense of déjà-vu here?

_The teacher looks down at Marcy before turning her head to look around at another display a couple isles over._

_Just seen over the various displays is another robot, similar in appearance although with a few noticeable differences. This second robot has a much thicker, boxier appearance except for its head, which forms a dome with various lenses noticeably sticking out at odd angles._

_Gaige is now noticeably annoyed as she moves over to Marcy and stands next to her, watching this second robot._

GAIGE

Maybe.

_As they watch the dome of the second robot suddenly starts to spin wildly as though it's attempting to take off._

GAIGE

But mine works.

MARCY

Says who. It hasn't done anything yet.

GAIGE

And I didn't have to steal my plans.

MARCY

Oh shut-up.

_Spinning towards Gaige, Marcy shoves her away, back towards the yellow crate. As she stumbles back, Gaige trips and falls back into a semi-seated position on the floor. All of a sudden the robot springs to life, taking a step forwards out of the crate._

_The cylinder poking out between the rods extends revealing that it is definitely the barrel of some kind of weapon. A monotonic robotic voice rings out from the machine._

DEATHTRAP

Threat detected. Directive: eliminate.

_From the floor, Gaige looks up at the robot, panic suddenly spread across her face._

GAIGE

Uh-oh!

_The robot takes another step forwards towards Marcy who stumbles back into her friends, fear crossing her face._

DEATHTRAP

Charging weapons, full power.

_From the back of the group a nervous teacher calls out._

TEACHER

Gaige?

_Springing to her feet, Gaige steps between the robot and Marcy as the machine takes another heavy step towards the young girl._

GAIGE

No no no. Wait. Protector-bot. Stand down.

DEATHTRAP

Must eliminate hostile.

_Gaige is forced to move back with the robot as it takes another step towards Marcy. A loud crackling is heard coming from its weaponized hand._

GAIGE

No. She's not a hostile. She was joking. She didn't mean it.

_The robot swings its clawed arm around and gently pushes Gaige out of its way._

DEATHTRAP

The hostile must be eliminated.

_The small group is slowly moving back away from the robot, Marcy included. At least two or three students simply bolt, screaming at the top of their lungs._

TEACHER

Gaige?!

_The noise of the other students attracts the attention of nearby security guards, who start making their way over to Gaige's isle to find out what's going on._

GAIGE

Protector-bot. Don't do this.

DEATHTRAP

Weapon's at full power. Engaging hostile.

_What looks like a round bolt of energy forms at the end of the cylinder, between the two rods. Gaige once more jumps in front of the robot throwing up both of her hands._

GAIGE

STOP!

_The robot pauses. For a beat nothing and no-one moves. Eventually, after what feels like a lifetime, the ball of energy at the end of the robots arm slowly fades away. Another beat passes and the robot slowly lowers its arm back to its side._

_Letting out a sigh of relief, Gaige slowly does the same._

_Although still a bit shaken, Marcy manages to step out from between her friends and scoffs at Gaige._

MARCY

Ha. Gadget Gaige. Some display that was. Even your own inventions don't listen to you.

_Her friends nervously chuckle at Marcy's taunt. As her face drops to one of pure annoyance, Gaige swings around and glares at her rival._

GAIGE

You know what. Maybe just a little zap to teach her a lesson.

_She glances round at the robot._

GAIGE

Minimum power.

_Once again the robot springs back to life and takes a step towards Marcy as Gaige steps out of its way._

_Marcy is forced to look up at the robot's step brings it right in front of her. The buzz is heard again as it charges its weapon. Raising its arm it places it barely a foot from Marcy and a small spark jumps from one of the rods into Marcy's chest._

_Marcy jumps as the spark hits her. Having done its job the robot spins and walks back towards Gaige._

MARCY

Ow. You bitch!

_Giving Marcy a victorious smile, Gaige spins away from her rival and begins to walk back towards the crate next to the robot._

_Behind her, Marcy points threateningly towards Gaige and screams out._

MARCY

You'll pay for that Gaige!

_In a huff, she crosses her arms, stamps her foot, and explodes violently in a gory shower of blood, bone and muscle tissue._

_The back of Gaige's uniform is saturated with blood as the meaty splat reaches her ears, causing her to stop suddenly._

_Slowly spinning around, Gaige's eyes widen at the carnage in front of her. Off to one side, the teacher stands motionless in complete shock. A dismembered eye hangs off of her shoulder and her face is covered in Marcy's blood._

_Slowly the teacher looks at the eye hanging off of her, angled so that it looks like its staring right back. After a moments silence, the teacher opens her mouth and lets out a piecing, bloodcurdling scream as the film cuts to black and into the opening title sequence._


End file.
